Apparatus for manufacturing steel or other metal tubes.



No. 639,299. Patented Dec. 19, I899.

T. 'B. SHARP &. F BILLING. APPARATUS FOR MANUFACTURING STEEL OR OTHER METAL TUBES.

I (Application filed June 80, 1897.) (No Model.)

PNGNW \U a 6M A y Q mww v v M N 0: w o\ v n a NITED STATES PATENT OFFICE...

THOMAS BUDWORTH SHARP AND FREDERICK BILLING, OF BIRMINGHAM,

ENGLAND.

APPARATUS FOR MANUFACTURING STEEL OR OTHER METAL TUBES.

SIPECIFIGATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 639,299, dated December 19, 1899.

Application filed June 30, 1897. Serial No.642,982.- (No model.)

To to whom it may concern.-

Be it known that we, THOMAS BUDWORTH SHARP, engineer, of County Chambers A,Martineau street,and FREDERICK BILLING, man ufacturer, of Livery street, Birmingham, in the county of Warwick, England, subjects of the Queen of Great Britain, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in the Manufacture of Steel or other Metal Tubes and in the Apparatus or Machinery for the Same, of which the following is a specification.

This invention has been patented in England under date of June 16, 1897, No. 14,562.

Our invention has for its object improvements in the manufacture of steel and other metal tubes and in the apparatus or machinery for the same, and is intended to cheapen the said manufacture and facilitate the more rapid production of tubes, especially in regard to the earlier stages in their production from the billets. We effect this object by treating the billet while in a hotor plastic state, which means that if the metal used is sufficiently plastic without heating or with a small amount of heat it may be so used. Generally speaking, we treat these billets to produce the hollow shell by an intermittent pressure or series of pressures or blows by our special apparatus or machinery, which we are about to explain by reference to the accompanying drawings, which are given as examples of the mode we pursue in the said manufacture and from which, as an example, others Will have no difficulty in applying our invention to general practice and in the substitution of various mechanical members for those shown to produce the required effect, as herein set forth.

Figure 1 is a part sectional plan view of our improved apparatus or machine for the manufacture of steel tubes. Fig. 2 is a similar View to Fig 1, showing the hollow billet or shell advanced. I

In carrying our invention into practice we take the hot hollow billet B of malleable steel and insert it in the strong'hollow cylinder A, which we call the billet-cylinder. This billet-cylinderis preferably slightly tapered in its bore, so as to prevent undue friction, and the larger end is recessed to receive the hollow die D, having its inner edges d rounded v Fig. 2.

off or made trumpet-shaped or bell-mouthed; or we may dispense with the die D, and the larger end of the billet cylinder may be opened out by having its edges rounded off or made trumpet-shaped or bell-mouthed. Opposite this end of the billet-cylinder and in close proximity thereto is the pointed end 19 of the strong steel rod P, which we call the piercer, working in the cylinder 0, which We call the guiding-cylinder and which is secured to the cylinder A by bolts passing through the holes formed in the flanges a and c. The internal diameter of this guiding-cylinder is preferably about the same size as the outside diameter of the shell or rough tube which is being formed and is provided internally with. the washers or disks c and a which fit over the piercer for keep. ing it central in the guiding-cylinder and to prevent it from buckling. The disk or washer c is preferably placed as near the end of the piercer as practicable and is pushed forward by the advancing tube, as clearly shown at The end I) of the hot billet is operated upon by the ram or pusher R, adapted to be propelled forward intermittently by any suitable means, (not shown,) which causes this ram to advance when the piercer is retiring from the billet and remain stationary when the piercer is advancing toward the billet; but although the advance of the ram and screw is simultaneous with the retiring of the piercer the distance advanced by the former is not necessarily the same as the distance traversed by the retiring of the latter.

The remaining action of the apparatus is as follows: Starting with the piercer and billet in the position as shown at Fig. 1, simultaneously the piercer recedes and the billet advances and the piercer retires at the same time. .Again the billet remains stationary. Again the piercer advances and again the wall of the incipient tube is nipped and thinned down, and this series of operations is performed until the billet has been forced" onto and over the piercer and so converted into a shell or rough tube. I

Although we have shown hollow billets, it must be distinctly understood that We may deal with solid billets in a similar manner, as hereinbefore described.

What we claim, then, is

In combination, the cylinder A adapted to contain the billet to be operated upon, the

forming an enlarged continuation of the cylinder A and the piercer working in said enlarged cylinder 0, substantially as described. In testimony that We claim the foregoing as our own We affiX our names in the presence of two Witnesses.

THOMAS BUDWORTI-I SHARP. FREDERICK BILLING. Witnesses:

E. S. FRIEND, GEORGE LESTER. 

